Reasons why your company needs DMARC right away

You may not know, but DMARC adoption among the top 1 million websites is low, with only 33.4% having a valid DMARC record. This means that a significant portion of these websites, that is 66.6%, are vulnerable to email spoofing and phishing attacks. 57.2% of these websites use a ‘none’ policy, meaning emails that fail DMARC checks are still delivered to recipients’ primary inboxes. As a result, 85.7% of the domains don’t have effective DMARC protection, leaving them open to cyber threats.

It’s evident that DMARC adoption is still slow, and what’s worse is that domain owners or administrators have not advanced their DMARC policies to quarantine or reject. Having a DMARC record with the ‘none’ policy keeps your domain as prone to cyberattacks as it was before deploying DMARC. 

In fact, since Google and Yahoo had set the February 2024 deadline for bulk email senders to adopt DMARC policies, the number of domains with valid DMARC records increased by 60% in two months. By September, nearly 6.8 million domains had email authentication set up. However, the adoption rate is not up to the mark with this pace. This is because companies are either failing to read the signs or are simply ignoring them, thinking they are too small to be a target of a cyberattack. 

The Hiscox Cyber Readiness Report 2023 reveals a concerning trend— the threat of cyberattacks is on the rise. Despite 63% of small businesses in the US being cyber intermediates and 4% being cyber experts, 41% still faced at least one cyberattack in 2023. These attacks resulted in US small businesses paying over $16,000 in ransom, with only 50% fully recovering their data. The other half had to rebuild their systems, highlighting the high stakes of cyberattacks.

So, here are the following reasons justifying why your domain needs DMARC as soon as possible.

Sign 1: Frequent phishing or spoofing attempts

If your customers or employees complain that they are receiving unsolicited and potentially fraudulent emails from your official domain, then it’s probably the loudest sign screaming that you need DMARC without any delays. Without DMARC, an unauthorized entity can send emails on your behalf, asking for money or important information or directing recipients to download malware-infected files.

Sign 2: Brand reputation concerns

If someone receives an email from your domain and you don’t have email authentication protocols, how would their mail server know whether the sender is genuine? The simple answer is that their mail server won’t know if the sender is legitimate or not, and hence would place the email in the primary inbox. This way, a phishing email sent in your brand’s name can wreak havoc, ultimately tarnishing your brand’s reputation. Since you will fail to protect your customers or prospects, people will think twice before investing in your services or products. 

And we all know very well that competitive brands are always on the lookout for opportunities to divert customers and prospects toward themselves. 

Sign 3: Increased email deliverability issues

Without DMARC, recipients’ mailboxes can’t verify the sender’s authenticity, increasing the instances of even legitimate emails getting marked as spam or bouncing back. If most of your emails do not land in the recipients’ inboxes, then your company’s communication exchange will surely take a toll. 

Customers won’t receive transactional emails, status notifications, answers to their queries, newsletters, updates on new products/ services, etc. If employees are not able to exchange files and messages promptly, internal communication will also be affected. 

Poor email deliverability leads to problems like low engagement rates, resource wastage, compliance risks, and slumped customer trust.

Sign 4: Sending critical or sensitive emails

If your operating style involves storing and exchanging critical and sensitive data, like financial transactions, personal information, medical reports, Social Security Numbers, or internal documents,  through emails, then DMARC should be a non-negotiable protocol for you. In addition to DMARC, we also encourage you to deploy DKIM. DKIM, or DomainKeys Identified Mail, is an email authentication method designed to detect email spoofing. It allows the receiver to check that the content of an email claimed to have come from a specific domain was not altered in transit. Together, DMARC and DKIM can significantly enhance your email security. 

Sign 5: Regulatory compliance requirements

If your industry is governed by regulations like GDPR, HIPAA, or other data protection laws, DMARC can help ensure your email security meets compliance standards. Failing to abide by these compliances can lead to litigations, ultimately hampering your brand reputation and customers’ trust. 

Final words

Want to get started with DMARC? That’s good. But we suggest you cultivate a holistic approach and deploy SPF, DKIM, and DMARC—together, these three are like the strongest warriors of a troupe that fortifies email spoofing attempted in your name. 

We at DuoCircle offer DMARC services to help companies like yours implement, monitor, and manage DMARC policies. This allows businesses to protect their domains from spoofing and phishing attacks, ensuring that only authorized senders can send emails on their behalf.

If you also want comprehensive protection against email-related cyber threats, please contact our experts.